Why has it been so difficult to have a consistent HS sports schedule interface? | Opinion

Sep. 19—Way back when, the concept was simple enough.

The local newspaper, be it the Painesville Telegraph, The News-Herald as it evolved into a daily outlet or, more broadly, the Plain Dealer, would publish a composite schedule for high school football around Labor Day every year like clockwork.

If, for whatever reason, it became necessary to change a start time or venue, both schools would get together, make the change and the change would be announced to the public in short order through that media outlet.

We have come a long way. With X, formerly known as Twitter, Facebook and interfaces up and down the internet, staying up to date on scheduling has never been easier.

At least that's how it should be.

You have heard me in this space rail about having so much in the way of instantaneous resources available in high school sports but the irony amid that of it not being harnessed effectively.

Well, unfortunately, here we go again.

This school year, there is another new schedule interface, Dragonfly Sports.

Before going any further, this is not to discredit Dragonfly. It does look promising, with its expansive search functionality and smooth user experience.

The frustration rests in implementation.

Are we on Dragonfly now? Is it still Arbiter Live? Is it MaxPreps? All of them?

No one seems to truly know the answer.

Honestly, I have lost track of the number of scheduling websites that have been an "official" source over the last 20-plus years, after the days of awaiting seasonal schedules by fax mercifully ended.

In the 2000s, it was Schedule Star, which was a great, no-frills approach that seemed to work for schools and communities alike.

Then it transitioned to other interfaces I don't recall, but did appear to be a step back in simplicity.

In recent years, it was Arbiter Live, which was OK but had perplexing drawbacks, such as it being initially impossible to bring up one list of schools competing at an invitational in a team sport.

There were also the parts about schools being asked to input just home events, placing the onus on full representation or the schedule was inaccurate, and some schools not participating.

Now, there's yet another interface.

More times than not, when there's a new partnership, leading into the school year the Ohio High School Athletic Association makes an announcement. Not this time.

The only public sign of movement, in fact, was seeing schools no longer linking to Arbiter Live, but instead sending visitors to Dragonfly.

It could be some random fan in Vanlue operating a GoDaddy-hosted site of viewable Google Sheets for all I care.

As long as there is a functioning schedule site that serves public interest, it doesn't matter what the interface is.

The problem seems to be, however, every time an interface is introduced, it's not used properly or at all.

With Dragonfly, some logos aren't uploaded, small but telling. Some aren't participating at all. Also, rescheduled dates not being specified, unlike Arbiter Live, creates added inconvenience.

Admittedly, this is in part a selfish point. If I want to cover an event and am mapping out coverage plans in soccer, hockey, swimming and diving or track and field, having an accurate schedule interface is essential. But let's take me out of it.

Let's say a fan — not necessarily someone directly connected to a team — relies on a schedule website or real-time info being disseminated through social media to know when and where an event is.

By the way, don't get me started again about the notion in 2023 of all schools not being active on social media.

If neither avenue is used, and it says Team A is traveling to Team B for a 6:30 p.m. volleyball match, but that time was changed to 6 p.m. and no one got the word out, that fan as the saying goes is up a creek without a paddle.

Every August, I compile a News-Herald coverage area soccer match schedule. It lets me map out match coverage and have a master schedule for my nightly coverage area scoreboard posted on X. It is tweaked throughout the fall.

Barely into September, it was evident the interface marketplace confusion was having an effect.

There were multiple matches that happened at a certain time and date that were not "expected," because neither school updated the information on Dragonfly.

Here's another, as always not invoking identity in order to better convey a point. There was an afternoon soccer match. It had to be pushed back a half-hour from its originally scheduled time due to a transportation issue. The issue was first raised three months earlier. The match was added to the schedule well after the Dragonfly transition with the wrong original start time. In fairness, it did get changed to the correct time a couple days prior, but that's not really the point.

And here's yet another: Last week, I reached out to coverage area soccer coaches to show them my master schedule and request updates if applicable. Two girls coaches, whose sides were slated to play in October, told me vastly different impressions of when and where they were playing, and neither knew the other's impression until being informed of it.

No way around it — this has generally been brutal.

This all boils down to one massive frustration, one that continues to linger:

If we are in such an advanced age, with more tools at our disposal than ever, why is it so difficult to have one central hub — for statistics, rosters or, in this instance, scheduling?

Hopefully, once the issues are ironed out, Dragonfly — or whatever interface is preferred — is a consistently positive experience for all parties involved.

But for crying out loud, would someone please just say, "THIS is what we're doing," and settle on that singular plan in unison for a while?

Ohio high school sports deserves a one-stop shop for schedule information.

But if we've learned anything over the years, it's not worth holding our breath about it, either.